Tusheti

Tusheti  is one of the  most  difficult areas in the north-east of Georgia.It  borders with  Chechnya in the north   and Dagestan in the east. The road to Tusheti is opened only from June to October due to  weather conditions and snowing […]

Tusheti  is one of the  most  difficult areas in the north-east of Georgia.It  borders with  Chechnya in the north   and Dagestan in the east. The road to Tusheti is opened only from June to October due to  weather conditions and snowing . That’s why locals move  to the North Kakheti in winter time.

The biggest villages are Omalo,  Shenako and  Dartlo. If you  know famous Soviet movie “Mimino”  you have  to know that  partly it was shot on a flat plateau between the villages of Omalo and Shenako.

Local breeds of horses and herding dogs are considered as the best in Georgia.

The entire territory of Tusheti (122 050 ha) is a protected area ,quarter of which is a landscape reserve and more than 83ha of the territory belongs  of the National Nature Reserve.  Here human hand still has not touched the masterpiece  of nature. Huge waterfalls, sometimes even snow in the middle of summer, the lush greenery and of course the medieval towers will  impress your imagination!  As for the  towers its look like a tall house with a tapered roof. Sometimes the  height of tower reaches  10-15 meters. But the most important thing in it is that it is completely made of stone. The ground floor usually was used as a shed while  the second and the third were living.  But first of all  the towers were used as a watchtowers.  In the case of  enemy attack guards  ignited a fire which was visible from the tops of other watchtowers and people could prepare for defense.

It is worth noting that locals  still build houses of stone and make it very cleverly: grinding  each “brick” and putting one by one so that they are joined without mortar!

Tushinitians are Orthodox Christians but with some differences: they do not eat pork and do not admit women to the temples. Perhaps this is connected with the influence of neighboring countries.

Why should you visit Tusheti:

• Primordial nature away from civilization
• Medieval watchtowers
• Delicious local beer!
• Taste a rare kind of cheese, Dambaev hacho, the preparation of which was included by UNESCO in the list of intangible heritage of humanity.
• Active rest and positive impressions